64th Annual STS (2004-2005)
Finalists
Shan Yuan Huang

NEW YORK
Shan Yuan Huang, 17, of Coram, entered the Intel Science Talent Search with a physics project that reflects his fascination with the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Ben's research there focused on the PHENIX experiment, an international collaboration of more than 400 scientists probing nuclear matter under extreme conditions comparable to the state of the universe a few microseconds after the Big Bang. Ben's work resulted in a new technique to measure the number of particles of a given type produced during high energy nuclear collisions that is simpler, more reliable and less time-consuming that methods previously used in the PHENIX experiment. His technique is expected to supplant older methodologies for all future analyses. At Longwood High School in Middle Island, Ben is captain of the varsity math and academic bowl teams and captain and co-founder of the varsity chess team. An accomplished pianist and trombonist, he has received numerous awards for his musical abilities. Other interests include origami and horticulture. He is the son of Tien-Wei Huang and Mei-Mei Huang and hopes to continue his studies at Harvard.